Prior to registering for this Sociology course I had never really given any serious thought to what the development of Socialization entailed. After having read the Chapter on Socialization I find it very fascinating when I think about all the different processes that need to take place in order for one to become a functioning “socialized” member of society. In the paragraphs to follow I will give explanation to what I believe have thus far contributed to my “socialized identity”.
Beginning in infancy through roughly 5 years of age there were numerous agents of socialization in my life that include the following: my mother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and church nursery attendants, all of whom I interacted with on a daily to weekly basis. The primary agents were my mom and dad. I grew up in a traditional urban, middle-class family for the 1970’s, which translates to the fact that my parents were a married, loving couple who took great pride in the task of raising me and instructing me as to what was considered acceptable and was deemed unacceptable in their eyes. My mom and dad played the largest role in the initial steps of my primary socialization, as they were the ones who were the main factors in my ear
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There were many times I found myself in an overwhelming amount of mental turmoil between what I knew was right and wrong and what I had done or was contemplating on doing. As a reward for good behavior at the dinner table, my dad, grandfather and I would walk to the park or the bowling alley and spend time together. This once again brought postconventional thinking into motion. Mom was expected to keep up all of the housework, cooking, some of the yard work as well take care of my cousin, who was 4 months my senior and myself. On the other hand, if my behavior was not deemed to be socially acceptable in my mother’s eyes, I would get be given a stern look and mean tone from her with the threat of “just wait until your father gets home from work”. They mainly engaged in discussions of questioning authority, smoking cigarettes, and on occasions drinking and smoking marijuana. However, as I advanced into middle and early high-school peer groups came to the forefront and played out as the main agent of socialization for that time in my life. During this time in my life both the conventional and postconventional stages of moral development were at work. I had a whole new set of expectations for this job as compared to the Freez-King. This shows another good example of conditioning or preconventional moral development as I looked forward to our walks and knew that if my behavior was not acceptable I would not receive this as a reward. We would take turns taking care of the baby, doing much of the same things that we had seen my mom and dad do with my little sister and each other. Every Sunday we would have to wake up early for church. My father had a college education and was employed outside the home for a local bank as a computer programmer. I worked around a majority of adults at Freez-King so as a result of my occupational mobility I matured rather quickly. Not only did I have to share the toys with many other children, I also found that due to so many children and so few nursery attendants, they weren’t as quick to intervene in situations in which my mom would have always handled promptly.
Approximate Word count =
3006
Approximate Pages =
12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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